A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to musical instruments of the type classified as percussion instruments such as drums which are used in bands. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved drum head construction for tom tom drums used in marching bands.
B. Description of Background Art
Drum types used by musicians playing in marching bands include bass drums, modified kettle drums, and marching tom tom drums. The latter consist of a generally cylindrically-shaped drum shell and a drum head consisting of a thin membrane held in tension over the upper end of the shell. One or more of such drums are attached to a carrier frame and harness which is supported by the drummer. In the usual configuration, one or two pairs of tom toms are positioned in front of a drummer in laterally spaced apart positions along an arc centered on the drummer. Thus located, the batter heads of the tom toms, which are typically tuned to different fundamental pitches, are struck by the drummer in an alternating sequence to produce drum beats having different fundamental vibration frequencies, or tones.
Marching tom tom drums of the type described above are usually played with hard mallets. For that reason, tom toms drums are usually fitted with two-ply batter heads which provide the durability necessary to withstand the impacting force of the mallets. Laminated tom tom drum heads using one or more plies adhered to the primary, tensioned tone-producing membrane of a drumhead provide a reasonably long useful life. However, laminating the entire drumhead results in a diminished sound quality which is substantially different from that achievable with an unlaminated drumhead. In response to this and other limitations inherent in prior art laminated drum heads, U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,121, which has the same assignee as the present application, disclosed an Impact Resistant Drumhead which employs a protective overlay consisting of two sheets or laminations of woven synthetic plastic fibers which are coated with a synthetic plastic material. The two sheets of the overlay are cross-laminated together with their woof directions perpendicular to one another. The overlay is adhered to the upper surface of a central concentric region of the tone-producing membrane of the drumhead, which is made of a stretched plastic film, thereby increasing the impact resistance of that region of the drumhead sheet beneath the overlay. The plastic coating on the upper surface of the upper lamination enhances impact resistance, and also results in a crisp impact sound when struck by a drumstick. Moreover, localizing the extent of the impact resistant overlay to a central portion of the drumhead minimizes effects upon the sound volume output and frequency response of the drumhead.
The present invention was conceived of to provide a drumhead for tom tom type drums which has enhanced impact resistance, while minimally altering the acoustical properties achievable with a single ply or double ply drumhead.